How to Speak With ChatGPT in the Background on iPhone

[MacRumors]

Apple has partnered with OpenAI to integrate its ChatGPT technology into iOS 18, which will go on general release in the fall. Until then, here's a way to interact with ChatGPT on your iPhone – whatever you're doing on it.

Last year, OpenAI launched its free-to-use ChatGPT app for iPhone and iPad. Using the app, you can interact with the AI chatbot via text input and voice, allowing you to make the most of its generative artificial intelligence to get answers to questions and receive advice on all manner of subjects. OpenAI says that ChatGPT can help with all of the following:

• Instant answers: Get precise information without sifting through ads or multiple results.
• Tailored advice: Seek guidance on cooking, travel plans, or crafting thoughtful messages.
• Creative inspiration: Generate gift ideas, outline presentations, or write the perfect poem.
• Professional input: Boost productivity with idea feedback, note summarization, and technical topic assistance.
• Learning opportunities: Explore new languages, modern history, and more at your own pace.

History is synced across devices, so you can see your ChatGPT interactions both on the web and on iOS devices, and it integrates the Whisper speech recognition system.

One of the lesser known features in the app is its Background Conversations feature. Basically, it allows ChatGPT to continue processing and responding to your queries even when the app is not actively open on the screen. This means you can switch to other apps or perform other tasks on your iPhone without interrupting the conversation. Here's how to fire it up.

Talk With ChatGPT in the Background on iPhone

1. Download the ChatGPT app for iPhone.
2. Launch the app, then log in to your OpenAI account or create a new one.
3. When the main screen appears, tap the headphones icon in the bottom-right corner to enter Voice Mode.
4. Allow ChatGPT to connect to Voice. After that, you can start interacting right away. There are manual controls which allow you to pause, resume, and exit the voice conversation. When you want to do something else on your iPhone, simply swipe out of the app to enable Background Conversations mode.

ChatGPT is now actively listening in the background, and all you need to do is start speaking to pick up where you left off. If you have an iPhone with Dynamic Island, you'll see the ChatGPT symbol and a microphone icon, indicating that it's listening and ready to chat.

If you lock your iPhone, Background Conversations mode will remain active, and it will appear as a Live Activity card on your Lock Screen. This means that you can continue to talk with ChatGPT while you're busy doing something else, as long as your iPhone is nearby. OpenAI says the Background Conversations feature is designed to be battery-efficient, and minimizes the impact on battery life by optimizing background processes and reducing unnecessary usage.

Change the Voice

Voice chat was created with a range of voice actors (perhaps you heard about the recent ScarJo controversy) and there are a handful to choose from if the current voice doesn't jibe with you.

1. Tap the sidebar icon in the top-left corner of the main ChatGPT window.
2. Tap your account profile to open Settings.
3. Under the "Voice Mode" section, tap Voice.
4. Choose from Breeze, Juniper, Ember, and Cove. You'll get a sample of the voice when you tap it.
5. Hit Confirm to confirm your voice choice.

Assign Voice Mode to iPhone Action Button

If you have an iPhone with an Action Button (iPhone 15 Pro models, for example) you can easily assign ChatGPT's Voice Mode to it for quick access.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Action Button.
3. Swipe to the Shortcut option, then tap the action selector.
4. Search for "ChatGPT," then select the Start voice conversation shortcut.

That's all there is to it. Now you can simply long press the Action button on your iPhone to begin a voice conversation, whether you're in another app or if your device is locked.

If you have privacy concerns about the feature, but still want to use the ChatGPT app, there's good news: This week, OpenAI quietly deployed a new option to turn off Background Conversations. You can find the toggle in Settings under the "Voice Mode" section. You'll know that it's disabled because the orange dot indicating mic activity won't be visible in the top-right corner of your iPhone's screen.

Voice Mode Is About to Get Better

Some exciting features in GPT-4's voice mode are on the horizon but haven't gone live yet. These include advanced controls for changing the emotion and tone of responses, making interactions feel even more natural. While you can already customize voices to some extent, the full integration of voice and visual inputs, which promises richer and more interactive experiences, is still in the works.

OpenAI also says developers will soon get access to a wider range of APIs to better tailor voice interactions for their needs, enhancing applications like customer service. Enhanced support for different accents and dialects is also coming, making the system more accessible globally. Finally, more detailed privacy controls for managing and reviewing voice data are being rolled out gradually. All in all, these updates will make GPT-4's voice mode even more versatile and user-friendly.

Article Link: How to Speak With ChatGPT in the Background on iPhone

 

[julesme]

“ChatGPT is now actively listening in the background…”.

Thank you, no.

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

Close the pod bay doors ChatGPT.

Sorry I have no access to pod bay doors.

That was a joke.

Oh I see hahahaha so funny! That was a film reference to 2001 A Space Odyssey which was directed by Stanley Kubrick in 196…

S T F U

 

[SteveJUAE]

The wife does not even listen to me can't see this being any better

 

[coffeemilktea]

I guess I could ask it to say positive things while I doomscroll through Twitter or something... that should be a nice contrast. 🤪

 

[Macalway]

All I want is a decent AI phone sex voice.

And... run in the background and provide me with witty retorts and cutting insults for the rabble.

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

All I want is a decent AI phone sex voice. For those special 24/7 moments.

To help me build a positive self image and boost my ego, among other things

Obviously this is why some people need the EU to force companies to remove Android and iOS from phones so that people can install AI powered IncelOS, PepeOS and PegasusOS. FrEedUm!

 

[Macalway]

Obviously this is why some people need the EU to force companies to remove Android and iOS from phones so that people can install AI powered IncelOS, PepeOS and PegasusOS. FrEedUm!

thank you!

 

[ghanwani]

OK, now we’re talking. Good to see multiple AI headlines every day.

 

[lenningj]

And betray Siri? unbelievable 😁

 

[NMBob]

"Get precise information without sifting through ads or multiple results."

That ain't gonna last.

 

[tkaravou]

I guess I could ask it to say positive things while I doomscroll through Twitter or something... that should be a nice contrast. 🤪

Or the Macrumors forums, the only place on the internet where Apple fans and haters unite on one common ground: To **** on Apple.

 

[nt5672]

Or the Macrumors forums, the only place on the internet where Apple fans and haters unite on one common ground: To **** on Apple.

That would be funny if Apple did not deserve it because of their poor decision making.

 

[klasma]

It would be great if the action button could be configured to work like push to talk. Apple is really missing so many ideas.

 

[vinsalducci]

This is actually somewhat huge. I have a positional shortcut programmed for the action button. Now I have a ChatGPT voice chat shortcut set to run when I press the action button and the phone is held face up.

Dueling assistants! ChaGPT for the action button, and Siri for the power button.

 

[klasma]

And betray Siri? unbelievable 😁

It’s not like Siri doesn’t have intercourse with everyone who asks.

 

[chfilm]

Hopefully the new features that they announced are something that will come to iOS18 natively. That would be sooo killer!

 

[chfilm]

It would be great if the action button could be configured to work like push to talk. Apple is really missing so many ideas.

what do you mean? You can push the action button and then start talking to chatGPT right away, just like to Siri!

 

[klasma]

what do you mean? You can push the action button and then start talking to chatGPT right away, just like to Siri!

Push-to-talk means that audio is only transmitted while the button is being pressed. Like with walkie-talkies. It’s a feature in some video conferencing software, that lets you unmute temporarily while a certain key is being pressed. That way you don’t mistakenly forget that you are still unmuted.

 

[burgman]

“ChatGPT is now actively listening in the background…”.

Thank you, no.

How Google, Microsoft, and Amazon of them.

 

[kc9hzn]

Instant answers: Get precise information without sifting through ads or multiple results.
Tailored advice: Seek guidance on cooking, travel plans, or crafting thoughtful messages.
Creative inspiration: Generate gift ideas, outline presentations, or write the perfect poem.
Professional input: Boost productivity with idea feedback, note summarization, and technical topic assistance.
Learning opportunities: Explore new languages, modern history, and more at your own pace.

I’m really tired of AI firms overselling AI. AI is a fun, even useful, software category, but most of that list isn’t stuff AI is actually all that good at. [LLM based] AI is actually quite poor at answering questions (unlike, perhaps, an old school expert system), since it could always just hallucinate an answer (and even without that, the answer it returns is still dependent on the factual correctness of its sources, which is a problem that plagues Google’s Instant Answers). And who’s to say that it’s capturing the answer to your question with the exact level of granularity you need (for instance, is it giving the correct answers for how to do X on Y version of software, or is it Y-3, or is X subtly different than Z and it’s actually giving the answer for Z)?

Tailored advice? You’d have to give it a lot of data about yourself (or be super basic) to get any useful advice out of a LLM AI. Imagine you’re planning a vacation, and you ask AI to generate a vacation itinerary (let’s say you’re going to NYC). It’ll no doubt give you the same “instagram famous” sites everyone goes to see (DUMBO, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, etc.). Who’s to say that it would even be aware of niche attractions or wouldn’t just hallucinate one that doesn’t exist, once you try to get past the mainstream or super well-known attractions?

Creative inspiration? Maybe, but only at a very basic skeletal level. There’s nothing creative about asking AI to generate a poem, but, if you edit it, clean it up, and really apply your own voice to it, maybe it might give you a basic skeleton to work with. I wouldn’t really trust it with anything professional (like a scientific paper or a corporate document*) without a ton of hands-on oversight and review (may be more work than just writing it yourself).

It’s probably pretty good at note summary, though who’s to say that it manages to capture the core piece of information you need the summary to contain? Presumably you’re the expert at the domain, and ChatGPT has no particular expertise in any given domain.

Finally, educational uses are probably right out while AI hallucinations are still a thing. Garbage in, garbage out.

* Well, then you’ve got the issue of giving a public LLM private information. Don’t want to be using ChatGPT for that, unless you’ve got something like a special license with OpenAI for a proprietary instance.

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

OK, now we’re talking. Good to see multiple AI headlines every day.

I know who I am. I’m a AI dude playing the AI dude, disguised as another AI dude.

 

[vinsalducci]

what do you mean? You can push the action button and then start talking to chatGPT right away, just like to Siri!

You press the action button to launch voice chat, and off you go. It works wonderfully.

 

[chfilm]

You press the action button to launch voice chat, and off you go. It works wonderfully.

I wasn't asking the question haha

 

[shpankey]

It’s probably pretty good at note summary, though who’s to say that it manages to capture the core piece of information you need the summary to contain?

Can confirm. We use copilot pro at work and it does an amazing job summarizing our teams meetings summary, notes, to-do, etc, with simplified and verbose options. It's pretty impressive.